New pocket wizards

BLD_007

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Should I get two flex or 1 mini and 1 flex?

I want to fire off my 430eII and strobes. Does the flex have more range?

What should I do?
Thanks
 
also do they have the same range as the older ones?
 
What if I have an older Pocketwizard on my shoe. Like the ones that have a range of 1,600 feet and a flash on a flex. Can I have the flex at 1,600+- feet out and still fire?
 
Have you heard about the radio frequency interference problems the Pocket Wizard people have suffered through with their new Flex line? You ask about range, so I wonder if you are aware that *some* photographers using Canon flashes are only getting 35 to 40 feet worth of range out of their expensive Flex systems, while others are reporting good luck at 35 meters--which, compared with the original Pocket Wizard system, is simply pathetic.

35 meters is far less than 1,600 feet, or even 1,000 feet. You rally ought to research the situation, especially if you plan to upgrade to the 580 EX-II flash, which seems to put out a huge amount of RF noise.

There are a number of web sites, blog posts, and forum questions about the Flex transmitter/receiver problems with RF interference, and many,many users who have resorted to shrouding their flash units in the new "condom" device made to rectify a problem that has been a major embarrassment for the Pocket Wizard brand.
 
Have you heard about the radio frequency interference problems the Pocket Wizard people have suffered through with their new Flex line? You ask about range, so I wonder if you are aware that *some* photographers using Canon flashes are only getting 35 to 40 feet worth of range out of their expensive Flex systems, while others are reporting good luck at 35 meters--which, compared with the original Pocket Wizard system, is simply pathetic.

35 meters is far less than 1,600 feet, or even 1,000 feet. You rally ought to research the situation, especially if you plan to upgrade to the 580 EX-II flash, which seems to put out a huge amount of RF noise.

There are a number of web sites, blog posts, and forum questions about the Flex transmitter/receiver problems with RF interference, and many,many users who have resorted to shrouding their flash units in the new "condom" device made to rectify a problem that has been a major embarrassment for the Pocket Wizard brand.

Why did pocket wizard go with such a poor product? Should I not invest in pocket wizard? I have heard great things in their other product. Its like cannon/nikon. Once you pick one, your in there for the long haul.

Radio Popers just sounds like a cheap product
 
Have you heard about the radio frequency interference problems the Pocket Wizard people have suffered through with their new Flex line? You ask about range, so I wonder if you are aware that *some* photographers using Canon flashes are only getting 35 to 40 feet worth of range out of their expensive Flex systems, while others are reporting good luck at 35 meters--which, compared with the original Pocket Wizard system, is simply pathetic.

35 meters is far less than 1,600 feet, or even 1,000 feet. You rally ought to research the situation, especially if you plan to upgrade to the 580 EX-II flash, which seems to put out a huge amount of RF noise.

There are a number of web sites, blog posts, and forum questions about the Flex transmitter/receiver problems with RF interference, and many,many users who have resorted to shrouding their flash units in the new "condom" device made to rectify a problem that has been a major embarrassment for the Pocket Wizard brand.

Why did pocket wizard go with such a poor product? Should I not invest in pocket wizard? I have heard great things in their other product. Its like cannon/nikon. Once you pick one, your in there for the long haul.

Radio Popers just sounds like a cheap product
You didn't watch the videos, I guess.

Good luck with your research.
 
Why did pocket wizard go with such a poor product? Should I not invest in pocket wizard? I have heard great things in their other product. Its like cannon/nikon. Once you pick one, your in there for the long haul.

Radio Popers just sounds like a cheap product
Who knows, but they really dropped the ball on the new PW's. It's not bad, it's freaking horrible. Watch the video in the link supplied. The PW's are a nightmare to use. Even trying to change the flash settings while the PW's are connected is a pain in the rear end. Couple that with their inability to work with the 580EXII reliably and honestly, you have to wonder what they were thinking releasing those things to the public.

The Poppers are of good quality and are arguably a better over all design. That's a matter of perspective though. If you want ETTL, the Poppers are about the only real game in town for Canon right now.
 
Stop by this page http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-10039-10081 for a brief introduction to the problems the new system is having with Canon flashes 430,580,and 580 EX-II. Basically, all three flash models produce a pretty fair amount of radio frequency interference that affects the Pocket Wizard's triggering signals. The amount and severity of the RF intereference these flashes produce is *NOT* consistent, and one of the officers of the Pocket Wizard compant publicly lamented the fact that they did not just, "buy all our flashes off of e-Bay," [words almost to that effect]; what he was trying to say was that 1) they bought a single "batch" of Canon flashes to use as test equipment,and they developed the new PW system, unaware that sample-to-sample Canon flash unit variation would have a *significant* impact on the new triggering system's performance, and especially with the flagship 580 EX-II. He was lamenting the fact that, had they purchased a bunch of Canon flashes from eBay they would have received units of widely scattered serial numbers, and this entire "flop at launch" issue would have been avoided.

I own two sets of the original PW's. They work great. The Strobist blog talked up the original PW's as the most reliable, fire-every-single-time choice over the generic triggers. But the company released the newest system without a really thorough, wide-ranging pre-test scenario in the real world. The radio frequency emission problem with Canon flash units has caused a major black eye for Pocket Wizard. Basically, what happened is that the PW engineers made a decision based on a wholly inadequate sample size that did not take into account Canon's manufacturing variations and sample-to-sample flash differences. And they have payed dearly for it.
 
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PW is providing the RF shielding coat for free to everyone who has purchased the new units and they're also including the shields in with any new purchases for free.

The new PWs have the ability to adjust timing with the transmitting unit to allow you to achieve a faster x sync than normal. That varies from camera to camera depending on the design.
 

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